Made by a Fabricista: Addicted to the Granville Shirt

I think I have an addiction and I'm not afraid to admit it...

I'm addicted to a certain buttondown shirt...the Granville Shirt from Sewaholic Patterns. 

I have already made three versions of this figure flattering shirt and I'm not stopping there! I've made it in flannel, silk charmeuse and cotton chambray.

Here's the cotton flannel version. Of course I picked a plaid for my first go around. It's one thing to try out a pattern for the first time and then pick a plaid that can be unforgiving if you do something wrong! You can read more about this shirt HERE. 

Next, I made the shirt from a silk charmeuse. Again, I picked a printed that needed to be matched AND work with a bit slippery silk! Why do I do this to myself? 

I ended up using what I believe was the wrong side of the fabric. You can see from the photo below that the left side is shiny, the right side brighter and more crisp. I used the brighter side as the face. The shiny side was kind of washed out and I really didn't like the way it looked. This fabric was a sample cut that never made it on the website. 

For the inside collar band, plackets and cuffs, I chose an ivory silk charmeuse from my stash. It matched the ivory in the print perfectly! (I love when a plan comes together.) I also used the backside of the ivory charmeuse because I liked the matte look of the backside.

If you want the look of an expensive buttondown shirt, I would recommend making it from a silk, but take care in sewing whether it's in the construction or top-stitching. You want the silk shirt to be top notch! I serged all the seams because I felt that the charmeuse could handle it. Some of you may decide to use a french seam, but I honestly was a bit lazy! 

Lastly, I kept it simple with a tiny polka dot chambray shirt. The polka dots are woven into the fabric and are small enough that there is no need to match them! (YAY!) I put pockets on the front (they are straight, just doesn't show that way in the photo because of the way I'm standing.) 

I chose a cotton print from my stash for the collar stand, plackets and cuffs -- aren't the little birdies cute?! 

I have a few other Granville's in the planning stages, one in particular for a co-worker. But after that one is finished I'll probably take a little break and sew some other summer projects. What are you sewing right now?